finn and the philosopher's stone
by mr mike oxlong. say it. loud
Summary: finn journeys to the forsaken swamp, looking for an elusive jewel known as the philosopher's stone. what will he do with the stone if he gets it? will he ever get it? what stands in his way? ffind out the answers to these, and many more (fairly pointless) questions within!
1. Chapter 1

**All credit to agoleiwo, he wanted this up on my profile, apparently i get more 'publicity'. He wrote everything, but the original idea for the story was mine. Anyway, all credit to him, and check out his stories, if there is any. We have been working on a story called adventure time with fubbline. So enjoy, curtesy of kenn agoleiwo.**

Kenn Agoleiwo: He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. Slowly taking a step forward, the adventurer put his foot into the stinking muck that gathered along the shores of this strange, locally condemned swamp. He cringes at the feeling of his leg sinking down into the greenish brown sludge. As the adventurer attempts to move forward, he quickly realizes that it would be all but impossible to lift his legs to walk normally. And so, even though the feeling made him sick to his stomach, the adventurer began to slowly wade waist deep through the mud. Moving further into the swamp, he notices a tree through the rolling fog that hung heavy in the air. He made it a goal to reach the tree and climb it and look from a height to gather his surroundings, but he didn't make it far. He had not taken but three steps before the ground beneath his feet took a deep dive downwards, and he slid into the sludge up to his neck. The smell was so horrible, his eyes started to water, and he was beginning to get a headache from it. Trying to stay calm, venter again took a deep breath, only this time it was full of the stench of the swamp air. Now completely sick to his stomach, the adventurer could not help but to vomit, making him feel very weak and shaky. As he stood there trying to regain his composure, he heard a noise behind him and it sounded big. He quickly recovered and scrambled up what felt like a rock that was submerged under the muck so that he could stand his ground and prepare to fight if that was what was called for in this case. As he spun around to face what had made the noise, he saw something that looked as though it was created in a nightmare. All he could do was wait for it's move.

As he stared down the very thing that could prove to be the last sight he would ever behold, he was taking in every sight and sound that came to his senses in an effort to find some sort of inconsistency in the beast's behavior. It was a fearsome thing; he could not even put a name to the creature. It had the posture of a gorilla, standing on its hind legs and using its arms to hold itself up. Its skin was green, and had the texture of a crocodile's scales. Tufts of coarse, jet black hair sprouted indiscriminately from random places on its body. It had the teeth of a piranha and had been baring them and hissing at the young man in front of it for nearly three hours straight. All it wanted was for the morsel in its way to turn its back, so that it could attack and kill with ease. But even the simplest minded of creatures has a sense of anxiousness, and this one, in all its seemingly never ending patience was no exception. It was hungry. All it wanted to do was eat. It hadn't done so in weeks, and was even beginning to weaken because of it. The swamps that it inhabited had slowly begun to dry up, the many fish that it had so easily feasted on before were things of the past. The hero facing the beast knew that. In fact, that was the reasons he had come to these secluded swamps. Oh and how secluded they were; so far away from any peaceful civilization were they that not even Marceline had explored them on her travels of Ooo. The local legend was that the swamps were only accessible if the stars are aligned correctly, and even when they are, only the most foolhardy of all adventurers dare to think about entering the accursed swamps. Letting his attention fall away from the beast of the here and now, the adventurer remembered the first time he had come into contact with the native people of this land. . .

FLASHBACK!

The desert sand and wind was flying into his face with no remorse, stinging his eyes and drying out his lips to the point of bleeding. He had just killed a Sarlakken, a horrible beast that rushed through sands like a shark, only to surface and prey upon the unsuspecting traveller. During its initial attack, the highly serrated teeth that filled its mouth had caught his stomach, leaving a deep and bloody gash. Not paying attention to the pain, he had thrusted the sword into the monster's neck and twisted. As the beast bled out and writhed in pain, the adventurer had escaped, only to collapse from loss of blood himself. Right before he had gone unconscious, the locals had found him and, in their strange, backwards sounding language, reluctantly agreed to help him. Awakening to strange sights and sounds, the adventurer had initially been worried, but after seeing friendly faces, he had calmed down enough to try and figure out what was going on. Through many hours of painstakingly stressful translations, he had learned that he was asleep for three weeks. When questioned on how he had been fed and given water, the locals presented a blind, deaf, mute elder who grabbed onto him. Hearing through his mind, he learned that the elder had kept him alive on pure energy alone. Not only did the elder keep him alive, he had actually improved him, making it so that he was stronger and would be able to run on less food and or water. After thanking him, the adventurer had asked him why. The elder simply responded that it was so that he could do what he intended to try. Bewildered at the knowledge that the elder possessed about him, he again asked for information from the elder, but this time, the elder stated that it was time for him to go and that he may not stay any longer. And so, after thanking the locals, the adventurer left the village and the people who had saved his life to journey into the evil oasis swamp and obtain what he came for.

RETURN TO PRESENT!

The beast, luckily for the adventurer, had not realized the lack of attention and so therefore did not attack in the time that had passed. The adventurer, now back to reality, realized the growing pain in his legs. After standing in the same spot for so long, trying not to sink into the muck that was underneath the cloudy, stinking waters of this hellish swamp, it was hard to keep calm and relaxed. Now, with his cool breaking down, the adventurer began to question if the reason he was doing this was worth the trouble. Was risking his life for something he didn't even know existed a good idea? What would he do, even if it did exist and he got his hands on the object, if it wasn't as powerful or beautiful as it was fabled to be. What if it didn't accomplish what he intended to use it for? No, he was sure that it would do what he intended it to do, provided it was all that is cracked up to be.

He turned his attention back to the situation at hand. He did not know how he was going to get out of this, and he was losing his strength fast. He was thinking faster than he had ever done in his life before. How did the elder know what he wanted? What if what he came for didn't exist? How would he get out of this alive? Just as he was running all of these thoughts through his head, the water under the two beings in a standoff began to bubble, and the beast that was attempting to eat the adventurer was trapped in a sphere of water. The beast began to twist in pain, and had visibly strained muscles. Only moments later, the beast was torn apart limb from limb. Blood began polluting the swamp, and the body of the beast sunk into the thick muck of the swamp. The adventurer was staring in disbelief at the situation, and was about to thank his lucky stars until he himself began to sink into the floor of the swamp. Struggling to stay above the water, he heard a voice say, "Don't struggle," much like that of the 'voice' of the elder. As he tried to listen to the strange directions, all that he was seeing went dark. Once he woke up, the only thing that he could see was white. It wasn't bright, but it wasn't dark. The voice that told him not to struggle came back, "Hello Finn."

**Review to tell us what you think.**


	2. Chapter 2

"W-who are you?" Finn asked the voice. Being unable to move freely and his unnatural surroundings were very unnerving, and this voice; Finn could not put his finger on it, but it was unlike anything that he had ever encountered before. "Some call me friend, contemporary. Some refer to me as guardian, God. There are some who say beast, Demon. But you, Finn the human, may call me Barbatos." The voice sounded deep but light, authoritative yet gentle, loud while soft, all with a hint of mysteriousness. Finn could not tremble it was so powerful, "O-ok then, Barbatos, why are you here?" "Why, the same reason you are here, boy. The stone! I would like to help you with your endeavor." Barbatos seemed to know what Finn was thinking, "The reason being is that there are certain people known for doing certain actions and thinking some certain specific thoughts. You child, are one of those peculiar beings." Finn tried to get a word in, "but I-." Barbatos stopped him short, "oh, what? Did you really think you would be the only one to want the prize that is, in all of it's glory, the Philosopher's Stone? It is just simply not feasible for that to be the case, do you understand?" Finn opened his mouth to speak, but is cut short by Barbatos, "of course you do Hero of Ooo, you would not have been chosen if you could not comprehend what I send." "What do you mean, 'send'?" "Well, i would rather not get too technical, but I do believe I should warn you; you are not actually here." "Wai-" "Allow me to explain child! You see, your body is in the swamp, sinking ever so slowly into the ground beneath your feet." Finn begins to freak out, thinking about waking up to the horrifyingly agonizing death of suffocation in the muck, never to be found by his friends and becoming forgotten about. "Oh don't you worry your little head off human; there is not a single person out in the land of Ooo that would forget about you. You are a very good person you know, almost the purest of hearts in existence." While this calmed Finn down a great deal, he was still worked up about dying in the swamp, "if that is tru-" "IF?! Know it as an undeniable truth when i say it! Yes, you might just die today. Hm, death is focused upon so much by everyone. Even those blessed with immortality ponder at its mechanisms. Stranger still, it seems that it is just luck of the draw for all of you who are birthed. There is no direct way to change someone's fate, and if they were to be assigned a destiny, well that is just a whole other story." Finn was confused now; none of the things that Barbatos had said made any sense to him. He couldn't shake the thought of death either, "please, let me g-" "Hush up boy! I understand your state of emergency, but I have not told you what to do yet. I suppose I can do that now, but in order to hear it, you must agree to follow through with it." Finn was glad he had what he thought was a chance to speak, "Fine, ju-" "Good, you are bound to that agreement by your soul now." "Finn was once again confused, "wait, I didn't say-" "Too bad child, listen to this closely or you risk dying. At the heart of this swamp, there is a portal in the form of a whirlpool. Although I told you that you are one of the individuals that could make it to the stone, i am not totally sure yet. In order to make sure you are the right person from here, you must take a leap of faith into the maelstrom that leads to either the all-powerful stone, or an untimely end. I see you have questions, let me shut you up right here and now; you either jump into the whirlpool or you forfeit your soul to me. Goodbye, i wish you well!"

Finn feels the cool, damp air of the swamp, but realizes his nose is submerged in the muck. Thrashing about to get free, Finn is finally successful and gets his head and one arm free and begins to gasp for air. After a lot of coughing and heavy breathing, Finn finally gets enough of his energy back to get himself out of the muck. He uses his now free arm to pull the rest of himself out of the muck and lays out on his back, gasping for air. As Finn looks around, he realizes that he had been out for some time. It was no longer midday, and the last traces of the sun were dying behind the thick expanse of trees that made up the majority of the swamp. The temperature had dropped significantly too; his breath could be seen even with the slightest breath. Finn shivered, and looked around for a suitable place to spend the night. His attention once again fell upon the tree, and moved towards it, this time more carefully. Finally, he made it to the tree. It was a flimsy thing, and its leaves were drooping over into the ground. Finn could use this to his advantage though, as he decided he would sleep in the space between the leaves and the ground for a rudimentary shelter. Shivering from the cold, he realizes there needs to be a fire if he wants to make it through the night. /There's probably no firewood around here at all/ Finn thought to himself. He looked at the tree to see if there were any useable twigs, and noticed that the top of the tree had been struck by lightning, and that he could use the blackened wood as charcoal. After he broke off some of the lightning struck part of the tree, he pulled some of the bark off and pulled a single twig from the base of the tree. Kneeling to the ground, he rubbed the twig between pieces of bark and blew on it until it had a small flame. He took more bark, and then added it and the charred wood to the fire. Before long, there was a small, low burning fire that was fairly warm. Finn laid down on the ground underneath the leaves of the drooping tree, and tried to clear his mind of all that would keep him from falling asleep. The only thing he allowed himself to think about what he was going to do with the stone if he got his hands on it. He planned to make it a beautiful ring, and give it to the person who had lately been closest to him. /She's going to be so happy/ he thought, and smiled as he thought about her putting it on and smiling. /Her smile is so beautiful/, he was letting his mind wander as he was getting drowsy. He closed his eyes, and could make out her and her features in his mind, and was about to fall asleep to the wonderful memory and image when a slopping sound broke his tranquility. He jerked his head up, ever alert to potential dangers. Even though his eyes were accustomed to the darkness, and the fire gave out a large amount of light, he couldn't see anything that was there. "What the math?" he said aloud. He went to lay back down, when a more sinister noise than the last, a growling that he had never heard before, hit his ears. Finn jumped to his feet this time, not willing to be taken out while lying down. He took his sword off of his back, and held it with both of his hands in front of him in a defensive stance. Finn called out into the darkness, "where are you, show yourself!" he said to whatever was lurking in the darkness. Finn was answered with a blow to the head that sent him flying into the tree he had tried to use as shelter. The tree crumbled at the force of the blow, and Finn landed in a crumpled heap, stunned by how strongly he had been hit. The beast charged at the hero, and opened its mouth to show that it had rows upon rows of deadly sharp teeth. Finn recovered last second; jumping up into the air and avoiding the monstrous mouth of the beast, that was an insect like crocodilian animal, three times the sound of Finn. As the beast circled back around, Finn got back into his defensive stance; now able to see where it was, and where it was coming from, he believed he would be able to do some damage. As the animal ran at Finn, it once again opened its mouth, only this time, it jumped into the air and snapped at him. Finn fell onto the ground, trying to avoid the deathtrap of a mouth that it had. Finn had pressed himself into the ground as far as he could, but it wasn't enough to dodge the snapping jaw. Finn was grabbed by the reptilian, and carried into the water by it. Finn took a deep breath before he went under the water, and grabbed his sword. Finn hacked at the thing's head over and over, all to no avail. Just as Finn was beginning to panic from the lack of air, the croc surfaced, and Finn could take a deep breath. It threw Finn to shore, where he landed in a pile of bloody, putrid, flesh and bones. Finn felt nauseous, the smell was worse than that of the swamp muck. If it wasn't for the imminent doom that was standing in front of him, Finn probably would have passed out, but he was determined. Finn just began to feel what had become of his sides after the croc had carried him to what he figured to be its nest. He was bloody all over, and the pain was excruciating. Finn got up wobbly, and looked into the croc's eyes. It seemed to look like it was laughing at him, or maybe it was just the loss of blood. Either way, Finn screamed at it, "come on, come at me!" The croc opened its mouth and ran into Finn, who had at that very moment, had an idea. Right before the croc snapped its mouth shut, Finn jumped into the beast's mouth with his sword pointing down into its throat. Finn twisted his sword as it broke flesh. The croc let out a horrific cry, somewhere between a roar and a squeal, and it was dead.

Finn crawled out of its mouth, and tried to wipe its slimy spit off of him. As he wiped his eyes, he heard the noise of rushing water, /could it be?/ he wondered. Finn stepped into the water, wading towards the origin of the sound. The wounds on his sides were bleeding a lot, but because there was nothing he could do about it, Finn disregarded it. He was losing a lot of blood, and it was all flowing into the water, leaving a red trail leading straight to where he was. Finn could see the spray of rushing water, and started to move faster. The blood that was left behind him were attracting some unwanted guests though. Small, leech like fish with a single, sharpened tooth were forming a group around Finn. As he neared the whirlpool, he felt a tingling sensation on his legs. He looked down, only to discover that he was being eaten alive by small fish. Finn ran slushily through the water, and came up on the whirlpool. The fish had taken layers of skin off of Finn's legs, and were nearing his bone. Finn couldn't wait to think about what to do next; either he decided not to jump into the whirlpool and be eaten alive by fish and then have his soul taken forever, or risk a quick and hopefully painless death with a chance of survival. And so he dived into the whirlpool without knowing what was awaiting him; death, or a chance at the thing that would change his life forever, the Stone.


	3. Chapter 3

It was raining; fitting weather for such a day. All of the inhabitants of Ooo had gathered for the ceremony that was to go through the kingdoms throughout the land. Everyone was wearing black, for that was a color that was to recognize such an event. The person in honor had touched the hearts of everyone in Ooo; giving up so much for their safety and happiness. Rumors had been started years ago, but nobody had wanted to believe them. It was so easy to believe it was just as it was before. The idea that he was not here anymore, was too terrible to think about. /If it was true/ everyone thought, /then all hope would be lost./ And so for years it went on and on; everyone believing for days on end that he would show up the very next day. But alas, it never happened. Each day, the sun went up with people saying, "today is the day." And it set with them saying, "tomorrow for sure," until one day, hope was truly lost, and it was declared that he would not be returning.

Over the rolling plains of the grasslands, through the streets of the Candy Kingdom, even to the heights of Lumpy Space, the procession went. The coffin was carried by the closest friend of the fallen. And everyone who cared about him was there; everyone, everyone except Marceline the Vampire Queen.

Marceline was sitting in her house, with the shades down, her doors locked and boarded up, and her head in her hands. She had not slept, or eaten, or showered, in weeks. Ever since it was declared by the Royalty of Ooo that he was to be pronounced dead on the day of his leaving. Marceline lifted her head, and looked around her. Empty bottles and syringes surrounded her; she had not moved from the same spot for days. She shakily reached for another bottle, the pain was returning. She found one, and removed the lid. She put it to her lips, and tried to pour the contents into her mouth. As soon as she realized that the bottle was empty, she grew angry and threw it at her wall. "Ugh!" Marceline yelled into the darkness. She began to feel her most hated feeling coming; it started in her chest, and then it was caught up in her throat, and then it was in her eyes. The tears fell uninterrupted. She got up, moving slowly because she was so weak. She couldn't even to get herself to float properly; her feet were dragged behind her. Schwabl jumped up on her, wagging his tail. She took one look at him, and just pushed him away, "not today Schwabl." That was what she had said to him every day for the past year. She went into the kitchen, and opened the medicine cabinet. She looked into it, having to squint. Her eyesight was degrading, and she was numb to all but the sharpest of pains. After she noticed it was empty, she slammed the small door, smashing the entire thing into pieces. She went up to her room, and looked around, hoping to find something that would ease her heartbreak in there. After searching and finding nothing, she went back down to the kitchen, thinking that she might have overlooked something, ANYthing. Once again, she did not find a single thing, and her eyes fell upon a knife that was on the counter. She picked it up slowly; looking at it like it was from another world. She turned it over and over in her hand, and took a deep breath. She closed her eyes, and pushed the blade into her wrist, and ran it across the veins there. She only let out a single gasp, letting the blood flow freely out of her, not trying to stop it. She began to falter in strength, sliding down the wall as she could no longer float to keep herself up. Her blood pooled around her, staining the floor and the clothes she was wearing. As she laid there, upper body resting on the wall, and her arms limp at her side, she began to see darkness. She welcomed it, and let it consume her.

_Final stop of the Procession_

"And so we shall remember the great feats of this most noble soul. All of that, which he has done for us, by him, will not be forgotten. There will always be a place in all of our hearts for him, and so he will live on in our combined memories. Today is a day, in which while we should mourn our fallen hero, but also celebrate the great deeds he has done. Dear friends, let us join hands to honor and commemorate him," Bubblegum stepped down from the podium she was standing on. She walked over to Jake, who was being hugged by Lady Rainicorn and crying into her shoulder. Jake looked up, and Bubblegum began to cry, joining the hug. The coffin was lowered into the ground, and buried. After ending the ceremony, the procession disbanded, and everyone went slowly back to their homes.

_Marceline's House_

Marceline woke up feeling more dead than she had ever before. She looked around her, and saw her blood on the floor. She grabbed onto the counter and stood up. There was no strength in her left, so she just fell back to the ground and laid limp, crying. She couldn't die, but she wanted to. The only thing that kept her from going out into the sun to burn was the possibility that he could come back. Marceline kept crying. She crawled to the fridge. Pulling it open, she grabs a box of strawberries. Not even being able to hold onto the box, it falls to the floor. It is filled with what were once beautiful, juicy strawberries, but are now rotten, coalescing into dark red goo. Knowing that she had to eat something, she took the red out of it, and almost threw up. Thankfully, she kept it down, and regained enough strength to float as her feet were dragged behind her. She looked out one of her windows, and saw that it was nighttime. She pried the boards off of her door and stepped outside, the first time in weeks. She floated slowly through all of the places that the procession had gone through, keeping to herself. The people she passed just stared at her, knowing that she had to have something wrong with her. She was thinner than she had ever been before, and even more pale. Her skin was dry and ashy, and the bags under her eyes were deep. Marceline didn't care what other people thought her said; she only cared about the one person who had mattered to her. Soon, she arrived at the burial site. Once there, she laid onto the ground in front of the plaque explaining who it was that was honored that day. Pulling herself up, she read the only word on it; the name of her favorite person, Finn. "Why Finn? Why did you leave me alone?" Marceline took a deep breath, "where did you go?" She looked at all of the memorabilia people had left on the shrine; pictures of them and him, Finn's sleeping bag that was put there by Jake, his old sword, etc. She had not approved of the ceremony, the only one to vote no on the royal council. This was because while he had not shown in 4 years, they never found his body to prove he was dead. She had never believed he was gone, and convinced herself every day that he would come back sooner or later, and kept herself from getting too depressed. But when everyone else lost faith, it was hard to keep hers. She wiped her tears, and went off to her next stop; the place that she got all of the things she used to keep her pain away. It was located near the store in which she had gotten the guitar that played the most savory licks in all of Ooo. Once she got everything she needed, she would go back to her house, and do it all over again, waiting, forever if she had to, for Finn, her hero, to come back.


	4. Chapter 4

**Just so everyone knows, agoleiwo writes this, not me. If you have any questions, ask him (he has a profile, I think) and all credit goes to him. I also don't read much of the story, so I don't know what's in here half the time. Anyway, thanks for reading!**

note from agoleiwo~  
** This is Agoleiwo writing the author's note, and I hope you are enjoying the story so far. But if you could do me one favor that is JUST as important as reading it, if you put a review about how good or bad a certain chapter is, that would be great. Please and thank you.~**

Finn opened his eyes, feeling heavy as a lead paperweight. He could breathe, but just barely. It was as if there was a sack of potatoes lying on top of his chest. After a while, he regained enough of his strength to feel movement, in the forward direction, that made it so that his arms, legs, and his neck were forced back. It was so much so, that there was nothing he could do but let them trail behind his torso. His eyes open but not registering anything that his mind could interpret, All Finn could do was think. And so he thought for what seemed like ages, from things such as 'where am I,' to 'was this what happens when your soul is taken,' and even 'what if he never made it back to Ooo.' All of these thoughts and more went through the hero's head, never coming to an answer for any of them; they always seemed to splinter into other questions when thought about too hard. A length of time was not possible to pinpoint, but it seemed like ages to Finn. There was no discernible light that he could see, and changes in the abyssal darkness that was the black backdrop of a "place" that this was, were nonexistent.

Although there was nothing to see, the unknown was killing him on the inside, and a million thoughts were thought through in his head, Finn did not once dip towards insanity. Even with the thought of going insane, he was too focused; his goal was too important to him for the thought of failure to enter his mind. He knew that if even though going insane would be an easy way around a possibly horrible outcome, it was not something he could let himself do. He understood that if he went insane, he would be incapable of any emotion. He had too much passion in him to allow for that to happen, so along with the nervousness that went hand in hand with an endless amount of time of thinking, he kept with him a sense of hope. This hope, the essential feeling for success in any ordeal, originated from the memories that he had of his time with his friends. He remembered going on adventures with Jake, saving the Candy Kingdom from zombies, and most of all, every time he spent with Marceline.

Every time he and she had sung together, each time he stayed up all night with her, held fast in his mind. He remembered the many times he had gone to her home only to find her crying in her room alone, with her diary open in front of her. She had always lifted her head to his arrival, wiping the tears from her face in an attempt to hide her true feelings from him. The first few times he had been fooled, not understanding the signs of sadness in her face. She had put on her usual disguise, acting like she was carefree, making Finn believe that she was happy and wasn't affected by anything but the shining sun. But that only lasted a small amount of time; after seeing the same sad, tear soaked, and tired looking face on Marceline over and over again, he decided that he would ask about it. The first time he asked, Marceline about why she was sad, she just simply waved it off, and played Finn with her usual act. Finn let it go that day, but kept it at the back of his head until the next time that it happened.

The second time Finn noticed Marceline crying, he asked with more assuredness. Marceline, at the asking of the question the second time, did not wipe her face this time. She did not fight it, did not act happy. She looked at Finn, _into_, Finn with her teary eyes and just sat there. Her cold, joyless stare told Finn that she was hurt. He remembered how he had gone over to her and hugged her tight. It was the kind of hug that told someone in a single action that it was okay; there is someone there for you who cared. Finn hadn't said a word when Marceline decided to open up to him that day. She told him everything: how her dad had abandoned her, what happened to her mother, how Ice King had watched over her while slowly going insane, how he had held on just long enough to make sure that she would be ok without him. She described the hurt she felt when she saw that Simon didn't remember who she was, or what he had done for her. She told him how, being alone for a majority of her thousand year life made her feel. She described how it felt to have everyone she knew die around her, making her feel that much more alone.

And Finn listened. He listened and understood. When she had stopped crying, Finn looked into her eyes, and just said that he was sorry. He said he was sorry she had to go through all of that, and then asked if there was anything he could do to help her. Her response was that he had already helped her, just by listening and being with her the times that they spent together. After that day, Finn and Marceline spent a lot more time together. Jake never even knew of how much time he would be with her; most of the time Finn snuck out at night to get to her. They would stay up all night talking about what were the coolest things to do, and what they wanted to try someday. Marceline told Finn about all of the places she had seen when traveling. There were also days that they would just sit there sharing a blanket while watching a movie.

A day that he remembered very well was the day that their roles flip-flopped as the depressed and merrymaker. It was the day that Flame princess dumped Finn upon learning the grasslands were not a land that was able to be ruled. Finn had tried to convince her that he did not need to be royalty; that he loved her and was always happy when they were together. Flame Princess could not be convinced, however; her father was appalled to hear that Finn was not really a part of the Royalty of Ooo. Finn even went so far as to gain entry to the Fire Kingdom, and acquire a conference with the Fire King. While trying to prove his worth to him and Flame Princess, he was laughed at and ridiculed by them both. Threatened to be killed and humiliated, Finn walked out of the Kingdom with his head hanging low.

Finn didn't want to go home to the tree house that day; didn't feel like telling Jake that another of his love aspirations had gone up in flames. He didn't want to do anything at that moment because he felt that nobody would understand the horrible pain he believed he was feeling, that is, until he had remembered Marceline. He walked alone to her house, and knocked on her door, even though it was the middle of the day. Thankfully, she answered the door. This time, it was Marceline who noticed the tears on the face of a friend. This time, it was _her _who would be comforting the other. She told Finn how everything would be ok; to trust her, things will always get better. Finn, who felt like his heart had been torn from him, took solace in her words. The mending of his heart from Marceline planted a seed there would grow into more than a close friendship with the vampire.

Finn's love for Marceline had started that day, as he lay in her arms. Every day he spent with her from that moment on meant more than just helping her, more than just having fun. It brought such a great happiness to see her face when he arrived, to hear her voice when they sang together. They began talking about more than just the places Marceline had visited in the past. Marceline had begun to open up more to Finn, telling him more than she had ever told anyone else about her life. They jammed out to songs about her most personal of memories, and Finn felt better and better about having a relationship with Marceline each time he learned something more personal about her. It got to the point where he was sure that he was going to ask her to be with him, but the matter in question was only _how_ he would ask.

It seemed like it was meant to be that on one of the days that Finn was considering the possibilities of asking her (a picnic ending with the question as they watched the sunrise, a special song he made for her that he would sing alone for her, or perhaps an extra special overly red dinner that he would make, and then put a note with the question written on top of the dessert they would share) Magic Man of all people came to him and told him of a beautiful and powerful stone. Saying that it was crimson in color, and that it was very valuable, and that he would get it himself if he could think for himself. Upon being asked what he meant, Magic Man simply told where he could go to get it for him and disappeared in a poof of green smoke. Finn, who knew automatically that he wasn't going to get it for Magic Man, did take it into consideration that it would be a perfect thing to ask Marcy with.

Wanting it to be a secret, Finn did not tell anyone where or when he was going or why he was leaving. He thought, at least from what Magic Man had told him, it would not take him very long to find it. He thought maybe a week at most, and they could all wait for that amount of time. So Finn left at twilight, going for a prize that would be good enough for someone as great as Marceline. Little did he know that his journey would lead him here; to this void of an existence, a horrible place in which he could not feel, or see. Was he condemned, to float forever, only able to think. He was in a state that he could not tell was of life or death.

Just as he began to curse Magic Man for telling him of the stone, making him feel as if it was a good idea to journey to a mysterious and dangerous swamp, Finn felt a new feeling. It felt as though he was rising, like he was floating up to the surface of water in a lake or river. He could feel a wind against him as he moved upwards, and began to see what he thought was a light. After what seemed like another eternity to Finn, he could make out the "light" that he had thought he saw. Upon closer inspection, Finn could see that it was a sign, lit up with neon light that read, "Welcome to the Arena! You will be at your destination very soon!"

Finn was extremely confused now, what in the world was a sign doing here?! And what was the Arena? Finn resolved to forget about the questions for the moment, and tried to find comfort that he might be near the end of this hellish journey. He passed the sign soon after he read it, and the feeling was returning to his limbs. He almost wished it hadn't; they were so sore and stiff, he could barely move them. Little by little, his surroundings were coming into view. It was a vast, open reach of space, with stars shining in the distance. Refuse was all around Finn, things among them ranged from old cars and UFOs, to mountains and trees on small patches of earth. One of the cars was in his way, but he could not get out of the way so he clipped it, hitting his right shoulder in the process. The car just floated away, fading into black.

When the car was pushed out of the way, Finn's eyes were treated to a most beautiful sight; a huge, coliseum like structure that was floating in the space in front of Finn. He could see that it was surrounded on all sides by a city, and it was encased in a bubble. Finn flew rapidly towards the "Arena" and tried to imagine what was going to happen when he arrived there.


End file.
